Reason and Desire

In the mythic fable of “Eros and Psyche”, written by Apuleius, the deity and the mortal (who can be seen as a representation of the soul) unite in the effort to obtain Psyche’s immortality. However, in order to secure this precious gift Psyche must complete a number of tasks, including descending to the underworld in order to be “purified.” Psyche is an intellectual and curious soul, whose unquenchable thirst for knowledge lit the candle in the night to see what was hidden right before her eyes. In this respect, she offers an allegorical significance to the content of this section. As Eros was the son of Chaos, Psyche can also be seen as the one who decodes the cryptic Chaos. But this dangerous attempt to understand Eros through reason puts the two lovers at risk of being separated from each other forever. This circuitous aspiration and struggle to join together forever can be interpreted as the need of the individual to unite body and soul, reason and desire.

My journey has brought from a castle far away to meet the man who I have sought so intently, the medical monk who resides in this abbey. He is my last hope. I have no other option than to try his potions in order to save my marriage.
Perhaps his concoctions will be able to heal[...]

What Flaubert tried to express in his letters about the Metamorphoses by Apuleio reminds to a sense of vertigo, a physical feeling above all. The mixture of fabulous adventures of Lucio, the protagonist of the story, is not subjected to an immediate understanding, just like the experience when it is caught as it happens. The[...]